Book Review Assignment: A Study on Hunger Games & Gladiator
Question
Task: Prepare a book review assignmentcritically discussing about one or more novels of your choice.
Examine the representation of the arena and how individuals are presented or ‘self-present’ in the arena space in The Hunger Games. You may make reference to other examples of “games” such as the film Gladiator. Take into consideration aspects of the body and body display as well as weaponry.
Answer
1.0 Introduction to the scenario of book review assignment
When it comes to entertainment, fantasy novels form a very important aspect of creativity. They not only narrate a wonderful story but also wonderfully enrich our lives. Many fantasy novels are made into motion pictures, movies and web series along with engrossing visuals which make the story of the novels much more fascinating. On that cinematography is the subtle art of motion picture and photography which can bring out the narration of the novels into life (Nevill, 2021). The present study deals with a critical analysis of the subtle art of adventure series and their beautiful display art form for the series “The Hunger Games” and “The Gladiator”. The latest of the same include video games and online games derived from the said novels and television series.
2.0 Features of adventure series
The adventure series comprises a special genre of fantasy novels, where the protagonist pursues an epic journey through the toughest terrains of life and emerges victorious by overcoming each obstacle (Crawford, 2021). These obstacles are not the daily concomitants of life but some daredevil challenges, risks and levels of the game. They involve wits, bloodshed, violence and so much more. Based o these aforesaid facts, the respective arena, personification and themes are designed for the novels. The adventure series is now very well available as games on the website and the apps for one to enjoy the best sort of entertainment possible.
2.1 The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games constitute a trilogy series of adventure written by Suzanne Polis. The background is set on a fictional land named "Panem" representing a dystopian North American continent (Sawhney and Goodman, 2021). The concrete wealth of the country is accumulated in their Capital and all the districts of the country suffer from economic inequality and starvation (Sawhney and Goodman, 2021).
2.2 The Gladiator
The novel, "The Gladiator" was written by Philip Wylie and represents science fiction primarily. The storyline matches with "The Superman" in essence and the background itself (Mukhopadhyay, 2021). In the story, a scientist develops an alkaline free radical based serum that is expected to give mankind the indomitable strength of an ant and the enormous leaping ability of the grasshopper. The scientist injects the said chemical into the body of his pregnant wife that subsequently gives birth to a kid, Hugo with indomitable powers, speed and bulletproof skin. Hugo learns the art of concealing his powers yet remaining active in sports, He faces several issues in life starting from sports, to joining World War 1 and working in a bank to lead a normal life.
The final instance is in the bank, where Hugo rescues a man from a vault by his strength yet ends up getting arrested for the same for the fear of looting the bank. Hugo tries to seek the answers for his existence and joins an archaeological team in Mayan (Mukhopadhyay, 2021). There he meets a companion and shares his condition. He gets some suggestions and tries to follow the same. His life ends atop a mountain atop a thunderstorm. The story gets adapted into Marvel comics and featured in the film with the same name.
The Fame Series “The Gladiator Games 2000” is derived from the same novel.
3.0 The arena
The Arena forms an engrossing and the most important feature of the adventure series and science-based fiction. In ancient cultures like the Roman and the Greeks, the arena represented a major element of public gathering, entertainment and sports. The word “Arena” means a place of combat.
There are various kinds of arenas differentiated by purpose. The kind of architecture and the designs reflect the geographical disposition of the arena. The different kinds of the arena and their designs used in the personification of adventure series include; theatre, stadium, amphitheatre, Colosseum, ring, cirque, ground, field, hippodrome and so many more (Erish, 2021).
3.1 The Hunger Games
The entire series of Hunger Games used the Capitol Kind of arena consisting of a fighting space. The Capitol arena is a symbolism of American culture. The people who have surrendered or been captured by the state from different districts are brought here for their proceedings. A lot of natural settings have also been used in the series about the districts of the Panem. The districts are named according to the type of commodities they produce. They can be categorised in the following format (Moffat and May 2021):
The Video games and online games series of “The Hunger Games” is referred to as Cornucopia. The trilogy is made into games as; The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 1, The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2, The Ballad OF Songbird and the Snakes. Apart from that, there are at least ten video games inspired by the hunger games (Martin, 2021). They are; Call of Duty, Warzone (2020), 4 Apex Legends (2019), 5 ARK: Survival Evolved (2015), The Culling (2016), The Girl on fire (2012), Hyperscape (2020), Z1 Battle Royale (2018) and Darwin Project (2018).
Figure: A representation of the arena and district maps of the “Hunger Games”
Source: (Screen Rant, 2021)
3.2 The Gladiator
Since, the movie "The Gladiator" of 1938 begins with the character Hugo, returning to the college football team and wrestling, the arena represented hereby is the football ground itself (Webb, 2021). The representations made of the football ground include; "The Superbowl" and the "Homecoming". It also encompasses a beautiful depiction of the football stadium to capture the emotions of the audience as shown in the shoot. There is also mention of a ring and its representation, where Hugo wrestles the mountain giant and other villains to attract the appreciation of the company. With all this information mentioned hereby, it is also crucial to mention that "The Gladiator" is also presented in the form of a comedy in the movie, story and the respective merchandise. Again, there is also the representation of the huge ground, where Hugo conducts his archaeological study life and the mountain top where he is stroked by a thunderstorm.
Arena represents the fight sequence of the recreational combat in rings and open grounds with various levels.
4.0 Personification of characters
Personification is the main skill of the novelist and the cinematographer itself. The main skill of the aforesaid personalities is to bring the characters to life. The proficient choice of vocabulary, narration, make-up, motions, facial emotions and body language. There are various kinds of personifications that are used in the expression of characters. They are; metonymy, onomatopoeia, paradox, pun, simile, synecdoche and understatement (Annisa, 2021).
When it comes to personification in movies, it does involve teams of stuntmen, graphics, arts and so many more. All these do add value to the intellect in the mass media and entertainment sector.
4.1 The Hunger Games
Some notable personifications in the narration of the movie, "The Hunger Games" include; "The Wind Whistled throughout the night", "The non-human thing is the wind" and so on. Apart from the same, the character and culture depiction has been greatly moulded with the
Greco-Roman depictions in the motion picture along with sci-fi fictional body languages in the following manner (Handayana, 2021):
Avox – The individuals punished by the capitol
Peacekeepers – They represent the law keepers of the state
Mutations – Genetically modified organisms used for varying degrees of labour like; warfare and so on. They include; JabberJay, Mockingjay, TrackerJackers, Wolf Mutations, Lizard Muttations, Monkey Mutts and Candy-pink birds,
Technology - Nightlock, Antidote tracker Jacker, Lunar glasses, television, high-speed rail, electromagnetic field, Hovercraft, Holo Map dress and Nuclear Weapons dress s. Clothes - The respective attires for the respective functions of the state and the districts and generic clothes of the native culture.
4.2 The Gladiator
This plot of personification is made in a very easy format as it corresponds to the contemporary era of 1938 with a touch of 1938. There is a football team, a residential setting and the mountain atop on which the personifications will be enacted. There is the most famous personification where Hugo, joins the football team and is being given an antidote serum. The antidote serum enhances the existential strength of Hugo further when he can completely defeat the Mountain Dean in wrestling and win money for the orphanage. All of these aforesaid factors point out the wonderful paradox and simile to the word Gladiator itself which means a warrior of incomparable strength (Mukhopadhyay, 2021).
5.0 The weaponry
Weaponry involves the skilled art of using ammunition, armaments, munitions, opens and martial arts. All these elements can be personified in narration as well as motion pictures. When it comes to a novel, the narration is composed of part by part and micro to macro definitions of the weapons, teams and the list of characters about them (Lu et al., 2021). Based on all these above-mentioned notes, the cinematography is also proportionate between the choice of words and the enhanced emphasis on the use of graphics and skills of the actors about the characters. Hence weaponry is an art of audience capture in both the above-mentioned forms of crafts.
5.1 The Hunger Games
As mentioned earlier, there are various forms of weaponry used in the series. They include the following (Mukhopadhyay, 2021):
Armaments – The armaments are the weapons and technologies produced by the district of technology and cater to the needs of rebellion against atrocity and tributes to emerge as the victor in the war space.
War Suits – The war suits are built in such a manner that it protects the citizens from catching radiation or fire from emergent nuclear disruptions. Apart from that, there are also generic styles of clothing. Martial arts – Super skilled arts of fight and man to man combat battle has also been depicted in the series, where rebellions are built to resist the atrocities inflicted by the state on the citizens leading to economic inequality and hunger.
5.2 The Gladiator
The major skill of weaponry utilised in “The Gladiator” is the wrestling form of martial arts and the display of strength with the same (Mukhopadhyay, 2021).
Wrestling – On consuming the serum-based antidote, Hugo gets strength in addition to his inborn abilities that he had to conceal. He displays wonderful and awestricken skills of wrestling when he defeats the Mountain dean and also receives a scholarship for his skills in sports.
Body Language – Body language concerning comedy and displaying strength while tearing open the bank vault single-handedly are the other key features along with being hit by thunder.
6.0 Conclusion
The best part of human intellect is, although we feel entertainment is just a form of refreshment, we get bedazzled because entertainment means so much more. Entertainment moulds the human mind and strikes the touchiest cords of life. On that note, the genre of adventure series novels stands a great chance of evolution in the prevalent times and the future that is yet to come.Urban fantasy is declining and people strive to look forward to more elements of reality. On that note, adventure series and game series if coupled with a science background in cinematography has a great chance of reinvigorating the age-old entertainment formats of the fantasy novels themselves.
Again, no matter how modern we may become, no one ever loses the sense of imagination, how unrealistic that may be. Everyone is but a master of their imagination that encompasses their reality. Somewhere, this collective reality of fertile imagination is what forms the essence of adventure novels. All that people want to see is the final victory of the good over the evil as it is a man who resembles the good and the evil by his deeds. The future of fantasy novels is thus a sci-fi coupled adventure series.
Reference List
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Crawford, R., (2021). The Sound of Visual Novels: Differences and Similarities in Experience for Japanese and English-speakers. Mechademia: Second Arc, 13(2), pp.169-186. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/mech.13.2.0169 Erish, A.A., (2021). 3. The Creation of the Movie Cowboy. In Col. William N. Selig, the Man Who Invented Hollywood (pp. 57-76). University of Texas Press. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7560/728707-006/html
Handayana, I., (2021). “Identification on Character Education Values of the Main Character in the Suzanne Collins’“The Hunger Games (2008)” (Doctoral dissertation, UniversitasPendidikanGanesha).https://repo.undiksha.ac.id/id/eprint/5075
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